Thursday, March 22, 2007

Water, dirt, mud, and the wiping of feet...

It seems that the snow is endless, or a least taking a long time to melt. Didi, Honey and Doc are fed up with having wet feet all the time. Then when they come into the house they have to get thier feet wiped. There is nothing more annoying than having to get your feet wiped. Well except for me, there's nothing more annoying than wiping 12 bare feet everytime the dogs come into the house. With all this warm weather and snow melting it also appears that dry places to lay down are scarce. Fights over the back step happen alot. There is some carpet out there, but the step is better.

Soon enough the spring thaw will be over, then we'll have wet grass to contend with. Man the wetness never ends.

Chow for now

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Spring for a Chow

Spring brings a host of new problems for our Chows. The biggest of which is the amount of water that's everywhere. I have it on the highest authority that Chow Chows do not like water. Let me repeat that CHOW CHOWS DO NOT LIKE WATER!. Right now because the weather is warm and the snow is melting Didi, Honey and Doc are fighting for dry spaces to lay down. Over the winter Randy replaced some carpet and threw some pieces outside. Two of those pieces of old carpet are the favorite places of Didi and Honey. Doc has to lay on the back step.

For now the three Chows are happy that the weather is warmer. Everything is better when its warm. Didi would, however, like it if the spring crazies that seem to be afflicting both Doc and Honey would just be done already. They run around the yard as fast as they can, and don't watch for anything. Sometimes Didi gets in the way and gets banged into. She's forever barking at them to slow down

That's it for today. Chow for now

Steph

Thursday, March 8, 2007

A walk, a walk they took us for a walk...

Randy and I are the first to admit we don't take Doc an Honey for enough walks, so when we do there is a lot of excitement. Last night we all went for a walk, and just as expected there was much running and jumping even before the collars and leashes went on.

Doc couldn't be happier to go for a walk, he thinks about all the trees and posts he gets to leave his mark on and oh boy he's in puppy heaven. Honey, she just likes to get out of the yard. She'd prefer to do it alone, but that is a rather dangerous past time, so we don't endulge her.

We were only out about half an hour, which according to Doc an Honey is just not long enough. We only walk around the school yards near our house, so it's not far enough either. There really wasn't that much to see on this walk. Eventhough it was early and the evening was warm no one was out. this dissappointed both Doc and Honey since they like to meet new people all the time. The only problem with spring walking is the puddles. Chows would rather not get wet event their paws. Doc kept pushing me over to keep his paws dry.

While we were out Didi stayed in the house. With her heart condition the doctor asked us not to walk her anymore, so instead of making her jealous we leave her in the house.

Well that all for today. Chow for now.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

And Finally Doc...

Without any further hesitation I bring you Doc, our sweet and lovable boy. Doc has been going on for days about getting his story told, so here it is.

Life started quite nicely for Doc in Milk River, Alberta in May 2005. He had a brother and a sister who he played with and had a hard time leaving. But not really knowing any better he came home with us. After a long car ride in a dog crate in the back of our SUV, Doc very happily came to his new home. Doc's full name is Taipan Doc Holiday. This name was chosen for him because he is the younger half brother of Taipan Wyatt Earp.

A short time after Doc's arrival at our house Randy and I had to go away for a short trip, so we asked our friends Glenn and Doris to watch over our little boy. Doc was very happy, and wants me to let everyone know that he loves Glenn and Doris, and would love to spend more time with them. That weekend of his first sleepover Doc discovered, much to Doris' surprise that he likes to chase birds. Roxie, the cockatiel, may never be the same having been chased by Doc.

As soon as he could Doc started in the show ring. His very first show in November 2005 he won best of breed. Doc continued to do well at dog shows and even took Best Puppy in Group at a dog show in Calgary. He was so happy with himself, and quite shocked because of my initial reaction and my stunned response to his big win. It wasn't long before Doc had accumulated his 10 points and the day before his first birthday he became a champion. Now Doc lives quietly in our backyard and occasionally goes to other dog shows.

Doc doesn't know what else tos say for now so he says I don't have to type anymore for today. He's just going to go do what he likes doing best and go lay down and have a sleep. He needs his energy, it takes quite a bit to chase Honey and Didi around the yard, chase birds, bark at strangers and whine for attention you know.

Chow for now

Sunday, March 4, 2007

It's all about Honey

Honey has been after me all weekend to get her story posted. Well in order to get her to stop bugging me here is Honey's story.

Honey also came from the Mi-Pao kennel in Ontario. She was born on February 17,2004, so she just turned three. She didn't much like the flight from Niagra to Edmonton,but she made it through. The only thing she can remember is having to hold it while she waited in Edmonton for us to get to the air port. She had never been so happy to see grass in all her life. The drive to Edmonton was okay, but not very exciting.

When Honey got to her new home she wasn't introduced to Didi right away but she got to check out the whole house. Evenutally she was introduced to Didi and eventhough Honey was quite a bundle of energy Didi did warm up.

When Honey turned 6 months old she started her career as a show dog. It took about a year but she got her 10 points to make her a champion. She likes going to dog shows, and generally likes the other dogs. She especially likes pomerainans, she thinks their little chow chows. At the dog show Honey met Tina, and her owners Glenn and Doris.

A little more than a year ago Honey had to have some minor eye surgery. Well everything went well until after she got her stiches out, and one of the incisions opened again. Honey was not terribly happy to have to wear that dumb cone again for another three weeks. She was really hard on those dumb things, eventually she had a cone that had duct tape around the edge to keep it from shattering. While she was wearing the cone we went away for a weekend, so Honey had her first sleep over at Glenn and Doris' house. She was pretty happy, they have three chow chows to and Honey had a good time.

Recently Honey has wanted to start a family. We have been breeding her with Doc, but unfortuneately we have had no puppies yet. We'll try again this spring when she's ready and hopefully she'll get pregnant this time. We'll keep you up to date on what is going on there.

That's all that Honey has to say to day. Next Doc will tell his story. He hasn't started bugging me yet about it.


Wednesday, February 28, 2007

All About Didi

I got the impression from the three chows that they wanted people to know more about them. I will start with Didi as she is the oldest.

Didi, whose registered name is Mi-Pao's Black Deidra, was born at the Mi-Pao Kennel (
www.mipao.com) in Ontario in 1995. Shortly after that Didi was flown to Alberta to live with a very nice lady named Audrey. Audrey ran a very nice kennel and Didi had a good life. After Didi came to Alberta she was very frightened and Audrey had to take apart here dog crate to coax her out. Didi tells me this is just because she was shy and the whole flying from Ontario thing was too much for her. In about 1999 there was an accident on Audrey's farm and Didi was no longer happy there. She need to go to another house where she could have some peace and quiet. That's when Didi came to live with us.

Didi was a fraidy-dog (she hates the term fraidy-cat) when she first came to live with us. She still is. The accident mentioned earlier created a lot of noise and Didi is still afraid of loud noises. She was shy and it took her some time to get accustomed to life at her new home. At the time we had two other chows Dudley and Cheeks. After they warmed up to Didi things were okay.

As time went on we lost first Cheeks then Dudley, and eventually Didi was alone in the yard. She can't say that she disliked being alone. There was no one bugging her and we paid a lot of attention to her. For a while life was bliss for our lone chow. Then we brought Honey home. (Honey’s story will be posted tomorrow). From Didi’s perspective this was not necessarily a good thing. This new dog jumped all over her, and bit her. Like I said yesterday Didi is the grande dam of the yard which in dog terms means she is the alpha bitch. Honey quickly learned her place and things went along very well. Then we brought Doc home. To this day he still bugs Didi, but as the alpha male she tolerates it but barely.

Recently Didi wasn’t feeling well. Actually she fainted after eating. We rushed her to the vet and left her there as a day patient. Let me tell you Didi was not happy with us for leaving her at the clinic. She doesn’t like to be away from home, she doesn’t particularly like strangers and doesn’t like to have people lay her down. She had x-rays (where they had to lay her down), gave blood samples and generally had a bad day. When all that was done it was discovered that Didi had an enlarged heart. She has breathing problems and they have helped cause this problem. After all of this the advice we were given, much to Didi’s delight was she was to sleep in the house (they are outside dogs), no longer go for walks (we can’t over-exert her heart), and her food was to be softened and put on a stool for her to eat (she fainted because she couldn’t breath well while eating). Yup Didi lives the life of a chow, lazy and gets special attention all day.

So that’s the story of Didi. She is the nicest dog, she’s quite docile, loves to get petted and loves cookies (of the dog variety). I will post a picture of her as soon as I remember, she is quite affronted that I didn’t have a picture to post today, but I told her I would look through my picture CDs to find the best one of her I can.

I will continue tomorrow with Honey’s story.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The story begins...

Well it appears I have had a request to start a blog. Yes my three dogs, Didi, Honey and Doc have asked me to blog for them. They are very excited about blogging, but without opposable thumbs they have a hard time typing. So for the love of my Chows I will type. Now for some introductions.

First there is Didi. She is a twelve year old chow chow and is the grande dame of the yard. Didi came to our house about 8 years ago in quite bad shape, but with the tender love and care we have provided she is doing very well. She would however, like to point out that if we bring another puppy into the yard she will get quite upset and pee on our rugs. Yes we brought two puppies into the yard in a two year span and Didi is still upset with us.

Then there is Honey, the first puppy we brought into the yard. She is also a chow chow and just turned three. She is a very proud champion dog, but really she would prefer to stay home rather than going off to all those dog shows. She finds dog shows quite boring and after all we already know she's among the best chows around.

Finally we have Doc, a chow chow of nearly two years. Doc would like everyone to know that he is the king of the yard and will bark ferociously if you come to the fence. (Honey says, he will run away and let the girls protect the yard if you open the gate though). Doc, also a show dog and a champion is more fun loving than the other two. He loves to play and horse around, much to the annoyance of the older two, especially Didi.

That is all they have to say for now, I am sure they will want to write about their adventures as they happen. Honey wants to have puppies and we will be helping her with that this spring. Doc just wants to talk about himself, and Didi she just wants everyone to hear about her.